After a vigorous round of self examination, board members gave themselves top marks in all categories, from the way they handle board meetings to leadership and "community collaboration."

They assessed themselves, and found themselves ... super!

Every grade -- compiled in April, sent to the Alabama Association of School Boards and unveiled Tuesday night -- was an improvement over last year.

Because the Hoover board is good at everything.

According to the Hoover board.

It's not so cut and dried for those looking in. Those like Arnold Singer.

Singer, of Hoover, sat in the second row Tuesday night when those grades were unveiled. He asked a question, and got an answer that says more about the Hoover board than any self survey ever could.

"Excuse me," Singer said. "It's a little hard to hear back here. If you could project ..."

That was it, before Board Member Bill Veitch responded with a disdain now immortalized on YouTube (thanks to Hoover's Trisha Crain).

"We're talking to ourselves, really," Veitch said, somehow managing not to choke on his irony. "We're not speaking for you."

Which is just what you want to hear from your public officials.

We're not speaking for you.

Veitch did us a favor, really. He told us what the board really thinks of itself. And he made the whole exercise of self assessment more than a little suspect.

Because four of five Hoover board members -- including Veitch -- gave the board a full 5 out of 5 points for politeness at board meetings, and perfect marks for allowing public participation.

Hoover School Board Member Bill Veitch

If it wasn't for Board Member Earl Cooper, who acknowledged grading the board lower than the rest, the self exam would have been so sugar-coated it could have been banned in schools.

One board member, listed as "Board Member No. 2," awarded perfect scores on 63 of 66 categories. Out of 330 possible points, he gave Hoover 327. If it were a student test, the score would come to a sparkling 99.1.

They're speaking for themselves, all right. And not to those such as Singer, who care enough to spend a Tuesday night in the second row at a school board meeting.

Sure, it's a little unjust to drape the whole board in the same Veitchy swath. Other members, including President Donna Frazier, were at least polite. Their sin is just rose-colored rating.

But it seems important now. At a time when Birmingham's superintendent has displayed uncommon valor in tackling a tradition of waste, Hoover's arrogance waves like a flag.

At this unlikely moment, when a majority of Birmingham's School Board has voted to do the hard thing and the right thing -- even against the weight of big campaign donors -- Hoover fails even to see itself.